Vehicle-wheel.



J. L. DAY= VEHICLE WHEEL.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 20, 1909.

Patented June 7,1910.

a; vmamfoz JOSEPH L. DAY, OF NASHVILLE, OKLAHOMA.

VEHICLE-WHEEL.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH L. DAY, a citizen of the United States,residing at Nashville, in the county of Grant and State of Oklahoma,have invented a new and useful Vehicle-VVheel, of which the following isa specification.

It is the object of the present invention to provide an improvedconstruction of vehicle wheel and more particularly that class which arein themselves resilient and therefore do not necessitate the employmentof pneumatic tires, and the invention aims more specifically speaking toprovide, in a wheel of this class, means for limiting the yield of thecushioning springs whereby said springs may not be placed under abnormaltension. In this respect, the invention presents advantages over suchwheels as are now in use in that while the wheel will be effectuallycushioned against shocks, the springs of the wheel are only permitted toyield to a certain degree after which any shock or impact is taken up bybuffer members which are yieldable to a less degree than are thesprings.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a view in elevation and partlyin section of a vehicle wheel constructed in accordance with the presentinvention, one of the spokes of the wheel being shown in dotted lines inabnormal position, and Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal sectional viewthrough the wheel hub.

In the drawings, the hub of the wheel is shown as comprising a spindlesleeve 5 upon which are fitted collars 6 and 7, these collars havingeach a radial flange 8 and being so disposed upon the spindle 5 as tohave the inner faces of their flanges 8 in opposed relation, there beingbolts 9 passed through the said flanges of the collars and nuts 10engaged upon the bolts whereby to clamp the collars in the relationstated.

The spokes of the wheel embodying the present invention are shown as ofresilient bar metal and are indicated by the numeral 11 and the innerends of these spokes are re ceived in radial grooves 12 formed in theopposed faces of the collars 6 and 7 upon the spindle sleeve 5 of thehub, the said face of one collar being forced with an annular groove 13in which is received a locking ring 14 engaging in notches 15 formed inthe adjacent edges of the spokes 11 at their inner ends, it beingunderstood that the said Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 20, 1909.

Patented June 7, 1910.

Serial No. 491,001.

spokes are in this manner locked against accidental displacement fromthe grooves 12 and that they are firmly clamped between the collars (5and 7 and extend radially from the hub comprised of the spindle sleeve 5and the said collars.

The rim of the wheel is indicated by the numeral 16 and may be flat orof other contour and may or may not be provided with an elastic tire asdesired and secured as at 17 to the inner surface of the rim 16 atequidistant points are spoke extensions 18 which, as in the case of thespokes 11, are of flat resilient bar metal, these extensions beingdirected inwardly from the rim and each toward the outer end orextremity of one of the spokes 11, the said outer end of each spoke andthe corresponding or associated extension 18 being connected through theinstrumentality of an angle plate 19 to one wing of which the end of thespoke is secured and to the other end of which the inner extremity ofthe extension 18 is secured. It will be understood from the foregoingdescription ofthis portion of the wheel that upon pressure being exertedupon the rim 16, the ends of the spoke extensions 18 which are connectedto the rim 16 will move inwardly to a greater or less degree dependingupon the weight or the force of impact and the inner end of each spokeextension 18 will spring outwardly radially as for example asillustrated in dotted lines in Fig. 1 of the drawings, the main portionof the spokes bending also as illustrated in dotted lines in the saidfigure of the drawings and moving substantially radially from the normalhub center or axis, the hub of course moving downwardly to a greater orless degree.

It will be understood from the above that weight upon the wheel and theforce of impact had thereby against any object or against inequalitiesin the road surface will be absorbed by springs 18, but in case suchimpact be quite severe in degree it is desirable to provide some meansfor limiting the yield of the springs whereby the springs may not besubjected to such tension as would render them liable to fracture andthis means is preferably embodied in bufier members carried one by eachspoke and the others by the .rim of the wheel. The member which iscarried by the spokes is in the nature of a metallic cap 20 which issecured to the angle plate 19 at the angle thereof but to that wing ofthe said plate to which the inner end of the spoke extension 18 isconnected, this cap member being concavoconvex in form with itsconcavity presented toward the rim of the wheel. The other buffer memberof the wheel is in the form of a conoidal rubber block 21 secured, bymeans of an annulus 22, upon the inner side of the rim 16 one directlyoutwardly radially beyond the outer end of each spoke l1 and. as will bereadily understood, these conoidal buffer blocks are presented directlytoward the respective ca or socket members 20 and as a matter of act arereceived at their ends partly within the said cap members, the exertionof considerable force against the wheel rim opposite any one of thesebuffers 21 serving tozbring the same into engagement with thecorresponding ca member 20 whereby to absorb the-shock initiallycounteracted by' the resilent spokes and their extensions. 7

l/Vhat is claimed is In a Vehicle wheel, a hub, a rim, and restripsecured at its inner end to the hub, a

resilient strip secured at one end to the rim and extending at an angleinwardly from the rim and toward the outer end of the first mentionedstrip, a two-winged anglemember having one of its wings secured to thesaid outer end of the first mentioned strip and its other wing securedto the inner end of the second mentioned strip, a cap carried by thelast mentioned wing of the angle member and having a concavity presentedtoward the rim, and an elastic bufier secured upon the rim and adaptedto seat in the concavity of said cap.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto afliXedmy signature in the presence of two witnesses.

JOSEPH L. DAY.

Witnesses:

J. D. Lowe, G. R. POWVELSON.

